Now and Then I'll Stand By You
by penaschmidt
Summary: A meshing together of the movies "Now and Then" and "Stand By Me" with my own little BTR twist. Logan, Carlos and James reminisce on their last summer together, the summer that changed their lives.
1. Prologue

**Whaddup?! So this is my first multi-chap story ever so please bare with me, it won't be too many chapters because its based off a combination of two movies and I have a really short attention span. As the title/summary suggests, its sort of a mix between ****_Stand By Me _****and ****_Now and Then, _****my two favourite friendship movies :) WARNING: There is a character death but its like after the events of the main plot line if that makes sense? This is just the prologue, the real adventure and angst starts later, so Enhoy!**

I hadn't expected them to be here. The truth was I surprised myself by turning up. My wife had ended up convincing me to go, reminding me that he was the reason I am where I am today, after all if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be Dr Logan Mitchell, I would probably be scrubbing toilets or something of the likes. If it hadn't have been for Kendall Knight's advice my whole life would have been different, and that was exactly why I had finally decided to go to his funeral and when I thought about it, I suspected James and Carlos were here for similar reasons. We hadn't seen each other since we were 14, so I can't imagine they were here for any other reason. I felt out of place, like maybe I shouldn't have turned up, that I didn't have a right to be sad about his death, I mean I only knew he had a wife and son because they had spoken a eulogy together at the ceremony, I wasn't a part of his life right before he had died, I hadn't been since we were teenagers. So, at the wake, feeling isolated, I reached out to the only other two people who looked like they felt exactly the same way I did.

"Hey guys. It's good to see you, I mean its not good why we're here, but that its good to, I dunno" I rambled, more nervous than I should have been talking to the people who I had shared my whole life with when I was younger.

"Yeah, we know what you mean, its good to see you too, I guess" James responded, both of them nodding at me.

We stood in silence for what felt like hours with our heads down, not knowing exactly what to say to each other until we heard Carlos mumble a "he's not gonna have a dad either" James and I both looked up and saw Carlos staring sadly over at Kendall's son, who looked about 7. I think his name was Kohen or something. Carlos was right, he would have to live without his father, just like his father had, and that had screwed Kendall up some, we could all only hope Kohen wouldn't have to endure the same horror that Kendall had after his father's death when we were 10. It seemed like Kendall had turned his life around in the last 10 years or so, but it had taken a lot for him to do that, so each of us made a silent promise to each other in that moment to not let Kohen go through what his father had.

We walked over to a sit down and catch up on each others lives, we found we had much to tell. We all had wives and children now, James with a daughter & son and Carlos with 3 boys and a girl and we made an agreement that we were gonna start hanging out again, so that our kids could be friends just like we had, with Carlos' 4, James' 2 and my son we had enough for a hockey team. It felt like old times, and we found that while we were sad we wouldn't have Kendall anymore, we were glad that he had once again managed to be the driving force behind our friendship, just like he always had been. After countless stories shared and happy moments exchanged all of a sudden Carlos piped up with a very valid question.

"Man, what happened to us? Why all these wasted years?"

We all pondered the question for a moment and realised it came down to our last summer together, right before high school before we'd gone our separate ways, and oh what a summer it was...

**So, there's the intro to the story. In case you hadn't figured it out, the actual story is a flashback sort of thing. I have the whole outline of the story written and it usually doesn't take me long to write chapters, so if I get a good response the next one should be up soon. **

**Review if you want, or not, whatever floats your boat. **


	2. Chapter 1

**Considering the fact that I didn't get a response to the prologue, I don't really know why I am posting the first chapter. I guess because I had it written before I had posted anything, so I feel the need to have it posted. I guess multi chaps just aren't my thing. **

"These cokes were $3.50 EACH. Do you know how many clubhouse dollars that is, that's like 20 bucks" complained Carlos like he did EVERYTIME we spent a single dollar.

"It's $14 Carlos, you really need that math tutor." I corrected Carlos

"Whatever smart ass, its still $14 we could have had in the clubhouse kitty, I can't take many more splinters in my ass, they hurt like a bitch and I don't exactly enjoy my mother having to poke around there. We NEED a new clubhouse"

Our tree house was getting outdated. It had been built back when we were like 6,when all our dads decided that every club needed an headquarters. You know, back when they gave a shit. And it wasn't like we called ourselves a 'club' anymore, I mean we're 14, that shit is for kids. We just...needed a place where we could get away from all the bullshit at home, a place only we knew about.

"You didn't have to get a coke Carlos, you could've saved 3 bucks 50. But no, you wanted one to, so shut up idiot" James attacked.

That wasn't a good idea. James and Carlos were always bickering. We were all like brothers and that's what brothers do. But it always took a turn when James called Carlos anything to mean dumb, he was sensitive about his learning disability and what I had said earlier probably hadn't helped. Whoops. I guess sometimes we didn't have filters.

"You are such a fucking prick all the time, why don't you go shove a stick up your ass…" Carlos started his rant on James.

"GUYS! Just fucking chill alright, it's just coke, Carlos it's only $14, that wasn't gonna buy us shit anyway, and James let the boy enjoy his $3.50 coke would you" Kendall intervened. That's the way it always was, whenever any of us had an argument or were being stupid, Kendall would always sort it out, it was like he was our dad or something.

"I'm sorry, I just really want that new clubhouse, I hate being at home, I rather be with you guys and NOT get splinters in my ass" apologized Carlos

"It's alright man, we'll get the money, I don't know how, but we'll get it. None of us wanna be at home." I told Carlos.

We all went silent after that for we each knew each other's home life was anything but great. Carlos' parents were always giving him shit when he did crappy in all his subjects, they didn't care that it wasn't his fault, he tried hard, he really did, they wouldn't even get a tutor for him, they just thought he was lazy. All James' parents cared about was their country club and keeping up appearances, it was like they didn't even have a son, they didn't even notice how talented he was, he was gonna be a star someday, most of the time James pretended like it didn't bother him, but we all knew it did. And Kendall, well Kendall wished he had what James had. To be ignored would be bliss for him. His dad died when we were 10 and a year later, his mum got with Mike, the devil incarnate, who'd been beating him ever since.

"Hey guys, I heard about this psychic lady, Madame Fairies or something, says she brings good fortune or some shit" James suggested

"You mean Madame Aries James. She's just some old lady tryna scam money off people, she won't help us. We're better off letting Kendall keep stealing from Mr Webber's shop." I said.

"Fucker's just getting what's coming to him. Nobody fires me. " Kendall replied. Even though the reason he had been fired in the first place was because he had been stealing cigarette's. Kendall was a good guy, really, he just got thrown with some tough circumstances that's all, how would you be if you got beat down every day of your life.

"I agree with Logan, that'll cost like $40, we can't afford to just give away $40" Carlos agreed with me.

"No wait...James actually has a pretty good idea. What if this quack can tell us how to get more money? Fuck the clubhouse, we could all move away to like fucking California or something" Funnily enough Kendall always believed in kooky spiritual shit like this, psychics, mediums, ghosts. We thought maybe it was because he had talked to his dad right after he had died, but he never told us.

And of course when Kendall said something, Carlos straight away would change his mind. Carlos never went against Kendall, so it was 3 against one. Once again, the fact that I was the smart one meant nothing to those dweebs. So off to the psychic we headed.

We arrived at Madame Aries 'office' down in the alleyway behind the junkyard. Like that wasn't signal enough to get the hell outta there. This lady was creepy and I really didn't want to hand her over our money. I still hadn't managed to convince the others that this was a stupid idea though, so in we walked.

She made us all sit down and took all her hands after we handed over the money. What she said next, kinda gave me the creeps.

"You, you've lost somebody haven't you?" I froze, stunned, how could she possibly have known.

Kendall sensed my uneasiness so he intervened. "Yeah, yeah, whatever lady, we paid you $40, now tell us how to make a fortune, the rumour around town is that that's what you do, so tell us or we want our money back"

"Relax, relax my boy. In due time I will tell you. My, you are an aggressive one aren't you?" Kendall almost pounced on her but then realised that would only serve her point further.

She closed her eyes while still holding mine and Carlos's hands. She looked like she was being possessed or something. She started shaking all of a sudden and then she jumped back like she had been faced with some startling revelation.

"Dear Johnny has the answers you seek. Thank you come again"

You have got to be kidding me right now. This old fucking hag had taken 40 clubhouse dollars and told us shit. I was gonna kill James for suggesting this.

We left Madame Aries' place feeling dejected, we had wanted answers, but instead came out $40 poorer.

"I can't believe we wasted 40 clubhouse dollars on that!" whined Carlos

"Relax fuckface. Do you really think I was gonna walk out of there without our fucking money" Kendall held up the green with a smirk on his face. I guess sometimes his nifty fingers came to our advantage. It wasn't stealing, it was our money ,that she robbed from us.

Kendall might have gotten our money back, but we still needed so much more to get what we wanted and the only information Madame Fairy gave to us was something about Dear Johnny. Some kid from our town who went missing like 20 years ago. They had never found his body, but just assumed he was dead. What the fuck did that help us? We all went home, feeling even more like shit than we had in the morning.

That night was pretty shitty for me too. My parents wouldn't stop fighting. They hadn't stopped in the past 6 months. It was always over stupid things, but we all knew what it was really about.

"Why couldn't you wash your dish, its not hard, for God's sake can't you do anything right" I heard my mum say to my dad.

"Oh fucking please, get over it, its just a goddam dish, you never would've cared 6 months ago" dad yelled back.

That was evidently too much for my mum because she ran out of the room crying. My dad saw me at that moment and he wasn't exactly in a good mood.

"She wouldn't be like this if it had have been you"

I had been hearing it often for the last 6 months, but it still stung like a bitch. My older brother, Benny, had died 6 months ago, drunk driver, hit him head on and I missed him so much it hurt. My father hadn't stopped reminding me how much he wishes it had have been me in that car because Benny was the star, he was gonna play for the Minnesota Wild and I was a worthless piece of shit. They were screaming at each other again a half hour later.

My dad left that night. Just packed his suitcases and up and left, but not before telling me how much he wishes Benny was still here instead of me .

THE NEXT DAY

"I call and raise you two" I placed a bet on my hand

"You pile of shit, you ain't got nothin', you're bluffin" James called me out

"Try me bitch" I threatened. James didn't believe me, so he matched my bet. Oh boy was he stupid. I placed down my hand on the table smirking at James. I'd won the pot, once again.

"Fuck you dickweed. That's bullshit, that's 6 in a row!"

"Logan, you little shit, stop hiding the fucking aces up your sleeve cheater" I was caught by Kendall, like always, he knew me too well. I laughed at James, when he lunged for me and got me in a head lock giving me a noogie. James's torture on me was interrupted by someone banging on the door, a mumbled 'ow', followed by the door repeatedly shaking, with screams of "LET ME IN! LET ME IN! I HAVE NEWS!"

"Car-los" we all groaned simultaneously. James scooted over to the door to hold it closed.

"What's the password shit head?"

"Fuck you. Let me in asshole"

James looked over to me and Kendall, silently asking whether he should let Carlos in or not, I looked straight at Kendall.

"Let him in before he explodes" Kendall answered.

James moved away and opened the door, letting Carlos in. Carlos come bounding in, like a ball of fire, rambling like crazy, grabbing Kendall by the shirt excitedly.

"LOS! Calm down man, you're gonna give yourself an aneurysm."

"Guys! Guys! You'll never guess what? You know how crazy Madame Fairy said all that shit about Dear Johnny, I think I might know what it means?"

"What could a dead kid do about us getting money" James asked. I had to admit, I was thinking the same thing.

"Shut up and let him talk, Jesus!" Kendall scolded.

"I overhead my dad telling my mom. Apparently they have been finding remains all over town and they think its Dear Johnny's" Carlos told

"Carlos, Johnny went missing like 20 years ago, his remains would be decomposed by now"

"You see, that's the thing. He went MISSING 20 years ago. They think that whoever took him was keeping him all these years, they have reason to believe the remains belong to Johnny. Dad said he thinks the kidnapper finally cracked and killed him and now his body is lying around all over town."

"How does that help us?" James asked.

"Do you know what the cops would give us if we found more of the remains, they'd have to pay us shit loads. We would be famous, well atleast in St Paul, it's the towns most notorious case."

"And how the hell are we gonna find him? You said yourself they've been finding parts all over town, the rest could be anywhere" James doubted.

"I'm thinking we could have a séance. You know, that spiritual shit, maybe his ghost could tell us" Carlos suggested.

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard" James argued

James had called Carlos stupid once again, but before Carlos had a chance to react, Kendall put his hand up.

"It's perfect, meet at the cemetery tonight"

And once again, I had been roped into something I wanted no part of.

At the cemetery that night we brought candles and set them up in a circle. Like I said, Kendall was into this sort of shit, he knew exactly what he was doing. We all held hands and Kendall said some words in Latin. There was silence. Until James started shaking with his eyes closed just like Madame Aries had when we saw her.

"I am Dear Johnny, you must find me so I can be at peace" he said in a voice that wasn't his own.

We all started freaking out, was James being possessed by a ghost?

"Dear Johnny, where are you, tell us where to find you" Carlos asked.

James cracked his eyes open and started laughing. "I got you guys good! I can't believe you thought I was the dead guy"

We all looked at James with a glare and I smacked him right over the head. "Does the word retarted mean anything to you?"

"I think I know a good place where there might be something, I just have a feeling" Kendall interrupted. Nobody ever questioned Kendall's feelings for some reason they always tended to be right.

"Then its settled, we look, we can tell our parents we're going camping or something" Carlos suggested.

"Yeah, whatever, its not like my parents will even notice I'm gone anyway" James was in. They looked at me.

"I'm in, they want me gone anyway". Now it was just down to Kendall.

"I'll probably get a hiding...but what the heck, I'll get a hiding anyway, might as well be worth it" That's it . We were all in. We were about to set of on the adventure that would change our lives.

"So that's it guys, we're gonna go find a dead body…"


	3. The Adventure Begins

**So, I essentially wrote this chapter for two people. I said to myself, if at least one person liked it, I would finish it, because I hate when I read a story and it doesn't get finished. So HUGE thank you to ****_ButterYUM _****and the guest that left reviews. I appreciate it very much guys!**

**I give you the first part of their adventure. Enhoy!**

It was the morning of July 23rd when we set off on our trip. Three days after the séance in the cemetery. I had told my mother that I was staying at Carlos's for the weekend and that we were going to camp out in the backyard. She just mumbled inaudibly and continued doing the dishes. She hadn't said anything since dad left. Until she saw me leaving the house with a blue sleeping bag over my shoulder.

"That's Benny's."

I hadn't originally intended to take my brother's sleeping bag, but when I was looking in the closet, I saw it, and I had hoped it would bring me extra comfort. But I saw the look of hurt on my mother's face and knew that I had to put it back and grab my own. Five minutes later I was out the door and on my way to meet Kendall. He had told me he wanted to show me something before we left. I had no idea what was so important that he couldn't show James and Carlos.

"Yo! Loges, over here," I heard Kendall call my name. I ran towards him.

"Hey man. What is it you wanted to show me?"

"Check it out," Kendall said as he inconspicuously pulled out what looked like a gun out of his backpack.

"Holy fuck Kendall! Where the hell did you get that?! "I whisper yelled at him. How could he have brought a gun, we would get in so much trouble if we were to get caught.

"Shh! Will you fucking relax. It's not even loaded. I snaked it off Mike. We might need it. But you can't tell the others, Carlos's old man is a cop and James will freak his shit"

I was still very doubtful. "Do you promise me it's not loaded _and _it won't get used unless it is 1000% necessary?"

"I swear on my dad's grave" Kendall promised. I knew that meant business. Kendall would never swear on his father's grave if he wasn't serious. So I for some strange reason trusted him with it and promised him I wouldn't tell the others as we headed to the tree house to meet them. We were silent for most of the walk.

"Bout time you spaz's got here. Me and Carlos have been waiting for ages, c'mon we wanna go find our ticket to the big time" James called when we finally arrived at the tree house, only 10 minutes late.

"Carlos and I" I corrected.

"Shut up dick weed. Let's just go already" Carlos defended James.

"Do we have everything?"

"Yes! C'mon let's go!"

"Kendall hasn't even told us where we're gonna look. He said he knew where we should look. Kendall?"

"Right by Keddy's Lake. Near old Crazy Pete's house" Kendall answered.

"ALL THE WAY OVER THERE!? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! THAT WILL TAKE US FOREVER!" James protested. I had to admit it seemed pretty far to go based on a gut instinct.

"Guys, do we really have to go there, Crazy Pete gives me the creeps. He was probably the man that killed Dear Johnny" Carlos was scared. He sometimes was a bit of a wuss, but most of the time he could be talked into doing anything.

"Do you idiots want to find a part of this body or what? I'm going to Keddy's Lake whether you guys come with me or not" Kendall said as he began walking off. Carlos was the first to follow. He could never disagree with Kendall. James and I looked at each other and figured we _really _wanted that new HQ. We _needed _to get away from home. So we followed him too.

We had been walking for some time when I began to feel hungry. We were just about to come up to the junkyard where we could stop over.

"Guys, let's stop for a bit, I'm really hungry." I suggested.

"Yeah, I'm with you on that one Loges. Good call. Litos, food us!" Kendall agreed

Carlos stopped wearily. "I brought the water. I thought James was in charge of the food"

"Carlos, I brought the water. _You _were supposed to bring the food"

"Oops."

"You've gotta be kidding me, I'm so hungry." Kendall complained.

"Relax, we'll just pool our money together and get some stuff from the store" I reasoned "I have $5, how much does everyone else have?"

"Sorry guys, you know Mike takes all my money, I only got $2.50."

Carlos emptied out his pockets. "Hmmm…one dollar and forty two cents, oh an this" Carlos handed over his money and a half stick of gum. We all rolled our eyes at him and then looked at James. He was the rich one of the four of us, we knew he had some. He looked back, biting his lip.

"Just because my parents are rich, doesn't mean that I have any of their money…"

"Jamie, did you do what I told you?" Kendall asked.

James looks shameful, but pulled a $20 out of his pocket. "That's my boy" said Kendall.

I assumed Kendall had told James to steal the money from his parents, which James didn't look too proud of, and rightly so, because stealing was wrong. But if anyone ever said anything to Kendall about it, he would just tell them that he never stole from good people, it was always the rotten ones that deserved it anyway. And after all it did mean we had enough money to buy a decent amount of food for the weekend.

"Now, someone has to go get the food"

"Shotgun not!" James, Carlos and Kendall simultaneously called.

I rolled my eyes. Of course I was left to do the dirty work, like always. I figured complaining would get me nowhere, so I went on my merry way.

I hated the owner of the store, he always smelt weird and was munching on his tobacco. I tried my best to ignore him while I was picking up stuff, but then he said something to me.

"Hey, aren't you Benny Mitchell's brother?

"Yes." I answered him, not wanting to hear any more about it.

"He was a star. That boy was gonna play for the Minnesota Wild, you anything like him? What do you do?"

I walked over to him with the stuff I had picked up and threw them on the counter, waiting for him to ring them up. I was tired of people comparing me to my brother. I know he was great, I didn't need to be told how much better he was than me. So I made a point to not answer his question.

"Did you know that chewing tobacco causes mouth cancer? And it can spread throughout your entire body and make you shit out blood?"

He didn't say anything back. He just handed me my change and my bag full of groceries. That's what he gets for comparing me to Ben. As I was walking back to the junkyard where the others were waiting I thought back to before Benny died. All my parents ever talked about was Benny and his hockey, how scouts were coming to watch him play, how he scored the winning goal at the match, how it would get him into a good college. They never mentioned the fact that I had come first in story writing competition, or gotten straight A's on my report card. They didn't care. But Benny did, he always told me how proud he was of me, how lucky he was to have me as his little brother. Shame my parents didn't feel that way.

"Logan's back with the food" I heard James call. They all pretty much attacked me for it.

"Hey! What are you little shits doing here?" It was Mr. Tucker, the man that worked at the junkyard. We weren't supposed to be here.

"We can be here whenever we want. It's private property" Carlos attacked

"Carlos, shut up, let's just go" I whispered to him, because he was right about it being private property but he didn't realize that meant we couldn't be here.

Mr. Tucker laughed hard. "Oh god! I forgot you were the retard kid. Well, you little spic, private property means you can't be here"

"We're sorry, we got lost, we'll leave now" James apologized

"What did you call me?" Carlos had finally responded to the insult.

"What are you deaf too boy? Retarted, deaf, spic." Mr. Tucker repeated.

"I'M GONNA RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!" Carlos lunged at Mr. Tucker.

Kendall was the first to react. Grabbing Carlos to pull him back. Remember when I said Carlos hated being called stupid. Well, yeah, if there was anything he hated more, it was being called spic, or beaner, or border hopper or anything of the likes. Carlos was fighting hard against Kendall, so James and I had to pull him back too. He was hard to control when he got like this. Mr. Tucker just laughed his head off. Kendall eventually picked Carlos straight up, carrying Carlos out of the junkyard, I followed him. James, however, didn't follow straight away. He stared down Mr. Tucker's laughing form intensely, just waiting for the moment we were out of the junkyard. The second we were back on land that didn't belong to Mr. Tucker, I saw James spit at him and turn around and run after us.

"You little pig!" Mr. Tucker yelled at him.

He chased James all the way through the junkyard until he met up with us on the outside. He knew he couldn't get us there. He was on probation with the cops from beating up kids and if he laid a hand on us outside the confines of his property, he would be arrested as soon as anyone found out.

Carlos's loud screams of anger had developed into sobs. He always got upset when someone insulted his heritage and insinuated he didn't belong here, especially because he had been born and lived here his whole life. James and I walked over to him curled up in Kendall's lap, Kendall's fingers running through his hair.

"Shh…it's okay Carlos. That idiot doesn't know what he's talking about, you're not retarted, and his stupid racist words mean nothing" Kendall cooed

After several minutes of Kendall reassuring Carlos and strokes through the hair, he finally calmed down and got up of Kendall's lap to stand up, Kendall following him, so we were now ready to keep on going.

"I'm sorry for lashing out like that" mumbled Carlos

James wrapped an arm around his shoulders and told him not to worry about it. Not another word on the matter was said.

20 minutes later, the cheery whistles of "L-l-l-l-like a lollipop" could be heard from Carlos and James as they skipped down the trail. Kendall and I laughed at their antics. James could always cheer Carlos up like no other, no matter how upset he was.

"So Loges, high school soon, huh?"

"Yep, we're gonna be high school freshmen in 3 months. Can you believe it?"

"Yeah, it's crazy. It's gonna be so weird not all of us being together"

"Whaddya mean" I questioned. I really had no idea what he meant. We were going to the same school. I mean, James had that audition for the music school, but we weren't sure how that had gone, so unless he knew something I didn't.

"Oh, c'mon Loges, you know very well what I mean. James is gonna get into that music school, you're gonna go to that smart people school, meanwhile me and Carlos will be stuck at St. Paul with all the other retards, taking shop courses"

I had forgotten about that. Back when Benny was alive, he had encouraged me to apply for the Shakopee High School for the gifted. I had gotten in to the early entry program. I had been stoked, and he'd been so proud of me, hell, even mom had said she was proud of me.

"I dunno man. Maybe I shouldn't go there. Maybe I should just stay with you and Carlos, you know, take the shop classes, I'm not really smart enough for that school anyway"

"Bullshit! Loges, that's your dad talking, you are the smartest guy I know. You're like a certified genius, you get straight A's and you do _extra _work. Everything about you screams that school. Don't let what your dad says about you get you down. Listen, I know Benny was the one that mattered to them. He was the one, he was the star. But you know what, screw them, cause you're important to me, and to Carlos and James and to hell we're gonna let you take shop classes at St Paul with all the retards" Kendall ranted.

"You know, you're not a retard either. You could take the harder classes, don't sell yourself short"

"Don't make this about me shit face. Go to that school."

I didn't reply. I just hung my head. Deep down I knew I should be going to that school. I had gotten a scholarship, graduating from that school would set me up for life, but I was just scared to do it alone.

"Hey guys, I'm tired, can we stop for the night" Carlos called from up ahead.

"Sure, let's set up camp" Kendall answered, dropping his things down right where he was standing. I guess this was as good a spot as any. Carlos and I set up the tent we had brought along with us while James and Kendall collected wood to start the fire. It was starting to get cold.

We roasted the marshmallow's I had bought from the store and talked about anything and everything. We even sang campfire songs, we actually sounded pretty good. But it was getting late, and we were getting tired. We knew we would have to get up early tomorrow morning to make it to the lake in decent time. So I made the executive decision.

"Guys, it's getting late, we should probably hit the hay". Everyone agreed with me, except Carlos.

"Um…guys. I'm a little scared. What if there are bears or what if Dear Johnny's murderer is out here and comes and kills us in our sleep?" Carlos shuddered.

"Well, why don't we sleep in shifts, that way we can scream to wake the others up if anything happens" Kendall suggested.

"Yeah, that's a good idea, I'll take the first shift", I volunteered. I figured if I took the first shift, I could get the best sleep. Luckily, the others thought it was me just being nice and not doing it for selfish reasons. They all grabbed their sleeping bags and headed into the tent. As soon as they were in there, I snuck Mike's gun out of Kendall's backpack just in case. Nobody had to know.

While on my shift, I had some time to think. Not really something I enjoyed as of late. Because all I would think about was Benny and how he looked lying in that hospital bed, all mangled up from the car. And how one of the first things my father said to me after we turned Benny's life support off was 'why weren't you in that car instead, with your criminal, faggot and border hopper friends'. I hated when he called my friends names, especially when they weren't true. Kendall wasn't a criminal, sure he had done some bad things, but he had reasons for all of them, his stepdad was an asshole and he even nearly killed him once. James wasn't a faggot, just because he liked music and acting my dad thought he must like dick too, but he didn't. And Carlos wasn't a border hopper, he was born in the same hospital I had been. While I had been thinking I hadn't noticed James creep up next to me.

"Hey".

"Hey, has it been that long already, is my shift over?"

"Nah, just thought you might like some company…holy shit what is that?" James switched tone's half sentence. I realised what he was talking about too late. He had seen the gun in my hands. I had completely forgotten about it. Kendall was going to kill me.

"Shit. James don't tell Kendall you know. He stole it from Mike, he promised we would only use it if necessary, and I thought as a precaution it would be good to have it on my watch"

"I won't tell if you let me hold it"

I agreed and handed James the gun carefully. He took it passing it around in his hands, looking at it intently and curiously, like he wanted to use it on something.

"Hey Logan, have you ever thought what it would be like to…to die" he asked me. I was concerned. I knew James hated his life, I mean we all did, but was he really thinking of doing something that drastic? I didn't know what to say, so I just sat there.

"I mean, like not that I'm gonna kill myself or anything" he chuckled darkly "but you know, sometimes I just wonder. My parents probably wouldn't even notice anyway. They'd be too busy worrying about their stupid country club to care that I was gone. I mean, I just figure, families are supposed to be shitty you know. But that doesn't mean we have to be shitty. I mean you look on the T.V and in the movies, half of them are all messed up. Brady Bunch, blended family, Simpsons, Homer is a doorknob, the entire family on The Fosters, and Batman never even had parents and he turned out okay. You know what I'm saying"

I don't know why I said it, it just came out. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that James had just shared something with me, I dunno, it was just like the gates opened.

"My parents are getting a divorce"

"What? Shit Logan, I always thought you're parents really loved each other"

"I thought they did to. But I think Benny was the only one they loved. Since he died, they haven't stopped fighting. And over the stupidest things too. I actually haven't seen my dad in a few days. He left on Tuesday. Walked straight out, didn't even say goodbye, just a shoulda been you."

"Jesus Loges, why didn't you tell us? I'm sorry man"

"It's okay, I'm glad he's gone anyway. Now I don't have to listen to him tell me how much he wishes I was dead instead of Benny. And I didn't tell you because I was embarrassed. I mean your parents are still together, and so are Carlos's and Kendall's would be if his dad was still alive, I just know it. I didn't want to be the kid whose dad left by choice, ya know?"

"Your dad's an asshole" James responded, putting an arm around my shoulder and pulling me into his side. We both shed tears over how fucked up our families really were and fell asleep like that. And Kendall nor Carlos ever came to wake us for their shift, we all slept on through the night

TBC

**And there it is. Part 1 of the quest to find the body parts. There will be a part 2 of the adventure and then an epilogue where it returns to present date, so yeah a short story, but it is my first multi chap so I am pretty proud I have even managed this. **

**So yeah, review if you want, or not, whatever floats your boat**


	4. Adventure Part II

**Hey! So sorry it has taken me so long to update, I have just been super busy lately with uni work, but I managed to get this in. Guess what? I see Big Time Rush for the first time in 2 weeks! So excited, so this is a celebratory chapter (although it still is angsty lol) Enhoy!**

When I woke up that morning I was still laying in James's arms . I shook him awake and then we went to wake the other two. We didn't scold them for not getting up for their shift becuse in reality I had enjoyed spending the night in James's arms and I don't think the others would have let me live it down if they were to walk in on that. I didn't bring up the fact tha James had told me sometimes he thought of dying and he didnt bring up my parents. We both knew that what we revelaed was meant to be kept within the constrains of that night. What had needed to be said was already said. We simply ate some breakfast in silence while the other two rambled on about how we were going to get to the lake by the afternoon.

"It's suppose to rain tonigt, so I wanna get to the lake as early as we can, otherwise it will get allmuddy and slippery" said Kendall

"What's your plan?"

"We don't take any breaks, we keep moving until we get there" Kendall answered.

"Kendall, this was supposed to be a fun trip, not boot camp" Carlos complained.

"Yeah, well maybe it shouldn't be fun, we're going to find a dead body for fuck sake" Kendall retaliated.

I suppose he was right. We did in fact come on this trip to find remains of someone we didnt even know, someone who had been kidnapped and probably tortured for all we knew, I mean they had kept him all these years for some reason. We didnt have any right to be having fun. Suddenlygetting a huge reward wasn't so important. I just felt like Dear Johnny deserved to be found. So without another word, the four of us continued on our journey.

...

"I knew you were trouble when you walked in, so shame on me nowww" James and Calos chourused together out of tune while they skipped along the trail.

"Idiots huh?" I laughed, lookig at Kendall.

But as I looked over I saw Kendall had somewhat started to trail behind. He looked like he was in pain. He looked up when he heard my voice and tried to hide the pain.

"Kendall, man, what's wrong"

James and Carlos must have heard me, because they stopped their singing and turned back immediately. They walked back towards us as we all kept our eyes on Kendall. He started walking again, pretending he was fine.

"Kendall" James put a hand out to stop him from going any further.

"What?" he questioned dumbly.

"Why did you just look like you were in pain"

"I've been in pain this whole time and now you notice" Kendall mumbled

"Huh?" Carlos asked

"I'm not in pain, I'm fine, lets keep walking" Kendall answered. But I had heard what he had really said, and I hated to admit it, but I think we all knew why Kendall was in pain

"Where's the bruise this time?" James bluntly asked.

Kendall knew he couldn't get away from this. He knew we all knew about what his mom's boyfriend did to him. There was always new bruises, he just didnt't like telling us about them until one of us actually brought it up. He slowly lifted up his shirt to reveal a nasty blue and purple bruise lining his whole stomach.

"Holy fuck, that sick bastard has gotta stop!" shouted Carlos

"Los, calm down,he's given me worse"

I hated to think what 'worse' Kendall was referring to, because this was sure as hell as bad as I had ever seen him.

"Sit down" I told him. And he did. Just like everyime this happened. And I was alwys prepared, because frankly it was starting to happen a little too often. I took my bag off my back and got out the stuff I needed to help Kendall, I went about my business while everyone remained quiet as a mouse. And after I bandaged Kendall up I silently asked him if he wanted to keep going. I saw the look in his eyes and knew he needed this more than any of us.

"Let's go. Kendall's all bandaged up so it won't be as painful for him" I told the others

We all headed on our way, this time no sounds of Carlos and James's out of tune singing or any laughters and smiles. Just Kendall looking over at me with a reassuring smile and a "you're gonna be a great doctor one day Logie"

...

Clouds had started to form, and I knew the impending storm wasn't far away, but I kept my mouth shut, because I wanted to find Johnny just as much as the others now. A little rain wouldn't hurt. And we were almost there. The rain managed to hold off until we got to the lake.

"Guys, I can see the lake, we're there!" Carlos called. And he was right. There the lake was and sure enough, there was Crazy Pete's house right down the path. The place we wanted to avoid.

"So, now what?" asked James.

Kendall walked closer to the lake and a loud clap of thunder sounded. The second it did, it was like Kendall was told by the God's or something where to start looking. I thanked God it was as far out of Crazy Pete's view as possible "Here guys, we gotta start looking here. Dig." And so we did.

We had been digging for a while and had come up with nothing. The rain was coming down hard now, but that wasn't going to stop us from finding anything so we kept going, but then James started to act stupid like he always did. Jumping on rocks and dancing around on them.

"James stop it, your gonna get yourself killed" Carlos shouted across to him.

I froze. I looked at James and knew exactly the magnitute of Carlos's statement. 'Have you ever wondered what it would be like to die?' James had asked me that very question the night before, and now he was teetering with death. I couldn't do anything, couldn't tell him to stop, because I had wondered about death myself and I couldn't let myself take this away from him. The feeling of being on the edge, something I myself had wanted to experience. And deep down I knew James had exceptional balance, even in the rain, so I wasn't worried. It seemed like Kendall wasn't too fussed either, he just kept digging, trying to find some part of Dear Johnny.

That was until James had slipped. Kendall stopped digging immediately. LuckilyJames had regained his balance and was standing back on the rock. We thought he was going to come back to the shore, it was getting slipperier and the water was rushing faster because the rain wasn't letting up. He was getting too close to death now, he needed to stop.

"James, I am not fucking kidding, get back here now, do you want to die?" Carlos gave a panicked shout. James didn't answer, just kept mucking around on the rocks. Almost like he really did want to die.

"James, seriously, Carlos is right, get back here" the ever leader Kendall announced. James still wouldn't come. It was like nothing we could do or say would make him not want to risk his life. Like he didn't even care anymore.

"Oh for fuck sake!" Carlos yelled, as he hurtled over to get James to grab him back to shore himself. Nobody ever knew Carlos possessed that much strength. He grabbed James and all but threw him back onto shore, being absolutely fed up with James's behaviour. We were so glad that James was back on shore that we hadn't bothered to notice Carlos struggling to get back over himself. And as we were helping a somewhat angry and a little bruised from the fall James up, we heard Carlos scream.

"Guys!"

We turned around. Carlos had slipped just like we had feared James would. He was caught in the stream and was dangerously close to drowning.

"CARLOS!" we all simultaneously screamed for him. James tried to lean in to reach him but to no avail. We all tried, but we simply couldn't get to him. All of a sudden we lost sight of him. We all panicked and started running along the lake. Until I saw Crazy Pete grab Carlos out of the water by his arm. Carlos was spluttering everywhere while kicking and faliling trying to get away from Pete. He clearly hadn't realised that Pete had just saved his life. Apparently neither had James or Kendall.

"Let him go, let him go!" James screamed. Pete just looked me straight in the eye and kept hold of Carlos trying to calm his terrified form. And I just stared straight back, completely still. What he didn't realise was that it was him Carlos was scared of. But nonetheless, he would not let Carlos go.

Kendall pulled out the gun and shot it in the air and then pointed it at Pete.

"Fucking let go of my friend right now!" Kendall screamed. It was right about then I snapped out of my trance.

"Kendall, what the hell are you doing?!" I yelled at him.

"Shutup Logan, I'm not going to shoot, I just want him to leave us alone" Kendall said so only I could hear. James simply looked stunned that Kendall actually shot a gun and Carlos looked even more scared because he wasn't aware Kendall even had the gun. I knew Kendall wasn't going to shoot at Pete, not only because Pete was still holding Carlos, and shooting him would risk shooting Carlos, he just wasn't that kind of person. And apparently Pete was aware of this fact too and simply turned away and walked towards his house with a now stunned still Carlos.

The whole three of us ran after him after we had regained our composure. The others worried what Pete would do, me just worried whether or not Carlos was okay. Pete had left his door open for us to enter and by the time we had come around and gotten there, Pete had Carlos on the couch in a blanket and was making him a wam drink. We ran in straight towards Carlos, hovering around him. Pete came over with Carlos's tea.

"I'll get you boys some nice, dry clothes". He gave Carlos the drink and headed up stairs.

"Are you okay?" James asked as he ran a hand through Carlos's sopping wet hair. James always got like this when one of us was hurt. All lovey dovey and mom like. He was good like that. Which was strange considering nobody had ever done that for him.

"Uh huh, just cold." Carlos shivered.

Kendall sat at Carlos feet, still loking stoic. Pete returned downstairs with fresh, dry clother for the four of us. Carlos, James and I took the clothes gratefully and thanked him. James offering up an apology, telling the man he had thought Carlos had manged to get out himself and that Pete was after him for some reason. When Pete had asked why we were so scared of him, we simply shrugged and didn't answer his question. Kendall however, was a bit more hesitant with taking the pyjamas. He eyed the man carefully and Pete pushed the clothes towards Kendall again. Kendall finally took them but did not drop his gaze. We all got changed as Pete went to go make 3 more cups of tea for us. We all snuggled on the couch together, huddling Carlos with the blanket over us. As Pete came over with our drinks, Kendall finally spoke to him.

"You're Dear Johnny's father aren't you. These are his clothes aren't they?" The whole three of us looked at Kendall and Pete whose eyes were locked onto each others. We had not known how Kendall had come to this conslusion. Just because Pete had young boys clothes, but with no young boys living in the house, that didn't mean he was Dear Johnny's father. But alas, Pete just looked at Kendall and nodded his head.

"I am goingup to bed boys, here are some pillows and blankets" he said after pulling out some sleeping stuff from a closet. We took them from him with thanks and laid down to go to sleep. Carlos and James were out like lights. Kendall and myself however, were different stories. We were both rattled about what had happened tonight. We had almost lost our best friend and found out that Crazy Pete wasn't so crazy afterall. The reason he was always cooped in his house all day and only came out at night was because he was still grieving his son.

"Loge" I heard Kendall whisper.

"Yeah" I probed

"I found him. It was his whole body, just without his arms, even his head was there. I saw it right before James slipped. It was right there in the dirt"

"Well, I suppose that's good, we can call the police tomorrow about it and get them to come get him". I had really said that because I thought that was what Kendall wanted to hear. After all that was why we had taken this trip. To find the remains and reep the rewards from it . It's not what I wanted to do though, I didn't feel right doing it anymore.

"Nah. I say we take Pete there in the morinng and bury him again. Give him a proper goodbye ya know?" I smiled at Kendall, glad that he agreed with me. We were pretty sure Carlos and James would be okay with that too. So, with lighter hearts, we both fell asleep within 10 minutes.

...

The next morning, Pete had made us breakfast and offered to give us a ride back into town. We happily accepted but not before telling him what Kendall had found and what we wanted to do. Pete had cried and hugged Kendall tight, thanking him for finding his boy. He also cried at the fact that his boy had been so close to him. His boys killer had been right near his house not so long ago. If he had only known.

James and Kendall buried Johnny back in the ground while Carlos and I talked to Pete inside about his son and what a great kid he was. He wasn't even a kid anymore. I was thankful I hadn't seen him but Kendall had said he looked like a fully grown man now. They came and got us when they were done. We had a small ceremony for him and Carlos laid flowers he had grabbed on his way over to put over the dirt. It felt good to put Johnny to rest and finally give Pete closure.

Pete drove us back into town and dropped us off at the store because we told him we could walk from there. We all headed home together, the last place any of us really wanted to go, but we knew we had to eventually. James and Carlos turned off to their homes and it was just me and Kendall.

"Hey Kendall. I'm glad we went. I had a good time this weekend. Despite what we were doing."

"Yeah, me too Loges. It was cool, us buddies hanging together without all that shit our stupid parents bring" he replied and I silently nodded in agreement.

"And Loges, remember what I said. You go to that school and you become a doctor, one of us needs to get out of this town" he smiled and walked on home.

I have never taken a bit of advice more seriously. Right in that moment Kendall Knight changed my life. It didn't matter that when I walked into my house, greeting mymother who hadn't seen me in nearly 3 days, she completely ignored me. Because for the first time since Ben had died, I felt worth something. Because of Kendall Knight. The only other person to ever make me feel that way was Benny himself, so it felt good to have someone else that could now that I no longer had my brother.

...

We saw each other throughout that summer. Hanging out at the new place that Pete had told us about. He told us that Johnny and his friends use to use it all the time as their hangout. It was old, but still in way better condition than our clubhouse, and it was sure far enough away from our parents to be good enough. We spent most of our summer there or going to visit Pete down at Lake Keddy. All in all, it was the best summer of my life.

Even if it was the last one I spent with the best friends I ever had. In the September, I had gone to that school for the gifted, and the scholarship had in fact afforded me to board. I saw the opportunity to get away from a bad home life and I took it. I only came home for Christmas that first year and never once again. I spoke to my mother occassionally because she had started to get better, she even told me she missed me, but that wasn't enough to bring me back. That sadly meant that I never really spoke to Carlos, James and Kendall again. They went about their lives and I went about mine.

Today was the first time I'd seen them since that summer. And I didnt't even get to see Kendall.

**And finnito! Well not exactly, that's just the end of the adventure. There will be an epilogue back in the present day. Hope you liked it :) Sorry for any mistakes, I typed this up on my iPad because my laptop was being a bitch.**

**Anyways, review if ya want, or not, whatever floats your boat.**


	5. Epilogue

**Hey...so I sorta just realised I had yet to write the epilogue to this story. Don't shoot me please. Things have just been super crazy recently because I may have put all my work on hold the entire week BTR was here so I have just been absolutely frenzied trying to get all that done, but it all worked out because I FUCKING MET BIG TIME RUSH! It was amazing and Logan is so sweet OMG and Carlos was perfect and ouch. I actually got to have a conversation with Cargan and I was dying. And they were amazing at slimefest and omg, I'll stop. **

**Anyway, this is really short because it just sorta wraps up the story. It's back in the present day at Kendall's funeral and sorry its so much dialogue, this sorta just got crapped out because I would've been pissed if I didn't finish it. Enhoy!**

"That was the greatest summer of my life…" James reminisced.

"It was pretty great huh? From that moment I never gave a shit when my parents told me I was dumb. I got through high school without their help. Even went to college down in Miami. Shame we stopped hanging out though" Carlos agreed.

"I guess that just sorta happens ya know. To be clear, I never wanted you guys out of my life. I wasn't leaving you when I went to that school, I was leaving that town" I clarified.

"We know. It wasn't just you. We all stopped talking to each other. I went to the performing arts school, you went to your school, Carlos stayed at the public school and Kendall got caught shoplifting again and that asshole Mike sent him away to that school for wayward boys. Splitting up was inevitable. We were growing up" James said.

We sat in a peaceful silence, looking over at Kendall's wife and son. People were constantly going up to them and offering their condolences. After what seemed like forever I suggested we go and offer ours. We were nervous to speak to her. She probably had no idea who we were. But it wouldn't be right if we didn't say anything. So we walked over slowly.

"Hi Kelsey, my name is Logan. You probably don't know me, but I was a friend of Kendall's when we were younger. I am deeply sorry for your loss".

Kohen started tugging on his mother's leg.

"Is that the doctor mommy? My uncle Logan the doctor? And are they Uncle James and Uncle Carlos?" the boy looked at the three of us with curiosity.

Kelsey looked from her son and then up to us. "You have to be Logan, James and Carlos from St Paul right? Kendall told me so much about you. He even told Kohen that you were his uncles. I really appreciate you guys coming. I know Kendall would appreciate it. You were a very important part of his life. He told me all the time that if it weren't for you guys he would have never turned his life around. So thank you"

I was in shock. And from the looks of it, so were the other two. I mean, I had told my wife all about the boys and the summer that changed my life, but I never thought Kendall would've spoken about us. All this time I never would've believed that we changed his life as much as he changed ours. I suddenly remembered what James, Carlos and I had spoken about when we first started talking earlier.

"You're most welcome. He certainly changed my life as well. Hey, listen. I know this is probably not the right time to ask. But, my son Ben turns 8 real soon and we're throwing a party for him on the 28th and I'm sure he'd love to have some more kids there to play with. There's gonna be a jumping castle and everything. Kohen will love it."

"Can we go mommy?! Can we go?! Please?!" Kohen begged his mother.

I looked over at James and Carlos. "You guys too. Our kids need to meet each other if they're gonna make a hockey team." I laughed.

Everyone agreed to come. I knew my wife and Benny wouldn't mind a few extra heads there. Mikayla knew all about Kendall, James and Carlos and Benny loved making new friends. So I gave them all my address and told them all I'd see them then. James, Carlos and I walked out to our cars together, chatting away about our kids and how much fun they were going to have together. When we finally said our goodbyes, we made a promise to not stop seeing each other again like last time. And as I sat in my car alone for a few minutes, I realised something…

"Kendall Knight, you did it again"

**And there you have it. My first multi chapter complete. Maybe I'll try it again, maybe I'll just go back to doing one-shots. I dunno. There are so many stories I want in existence but I know I don't have the capabilities to write them because it would just come out poop :( But I may try someday. **

**Review if you want, or not, whatever floats your boat**


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